Medical professionals have long touted that frequent hand washing reduces the spread of viruses and bacteria. Sanitizing compositions and anti-microbial soaps have become ever present in most public establishments in recent years. Hospitals, schools, office buildings, and private homes are all using anti-microbial rinse-off or rinse-free products to keep everyone safer from bacterial and viral infections. Sanitizing compositions, for example, rinse-free gel hand sanitizers, generally use high alcohol contents to attain their anti-microbial activity. Rinse-free compositions are not formulated to remove soil and therefore, many establishments use both rinse-free formulations, as well as, rinse-off formulations to address both cleaning and sanitizing. Rinse-off cleansers use a variety of anti-microbial agents that, when combined with the mechanical action of washing, significantly reduce bacteria and viruses found on the skin.
Current commercial rinse-off sanitizers can including one or more anti-microbials, anti-bacterials, germicides, etc. and generally use active ingredients chosen from one or more of iodine compounds, peroxide and per-oxygen compositions, alcohols, phenolics, quaternary ammonium compounds, or chlorine compounds. Studies on the efficacy of such sanitizing compositions against specific viruses and bacteria abound. No single composition shows activity as against all of the most common bacteria and viruses. Recently, one of the most prevalent anti-microbials, Triclosan®, has found disfavor and is being removed from consumer products based on a lack of proven efficacy above that of basic soap and water. So, there continues to be a search for sanitizing compositions that are non-hazardous, environmentally friendly, highly effective, and non-irritating.
Both commercial sanitizing compositions and anti-microbial soaps suffer from similar skin irritation problems. In environments such as hospitals, schools, and the food service industry, handwashing/sanitizing is frequent and can be very irritating to the skin of the user. Generally, when anti-microbial products irritate the skin, the user applies the product less frequently. Failure to apply the product as often as needed, increases the likelihood of microbial contamination. The high levels of anti-microbial actives needed to attain commercially suitable activity are a primary cause of the irritation experienced upon frequent use, so there continues to be much research into new actives or ways to reduce the level of actives by making them more effective. Ideally, a cleansing product or sanitizing product would exhibit the necessary anti-microbial activity while remaining gentle and non-drying to the skin, with little or no irritation.
The present disclosure describes anti-microbial soaps and sanitizers that are non-hazardous, environmentally friendly, and substantially less irritating than most current commercial products.